Photo Credit: Voice of America By The Associated Press. In a matter of minutes, torrential rains transformed the postcard-perfect French Riviera into a terrifying flood zone, leaving at least 16 dead, trapping hundreds of ailing pilgrims and halting car and train traffic Sunday along the mud-drenched Mediterranean coast.
Victims were found dead in a retirement home, campsites, and cars submerged in a tunnel. Residents, stunned by the ferocity of the brief downpour Saturday night, described it as the worst flooding they’d ever seen — so dramatic that President Francois Hollande paid an emergency visit Sunday to promise government aid for victims.
Helicopters patrolled the area and 27,000 homes were without electricity Sunday after rivers and streams overflowed their banks and fierce thunderstorms poured more than 18 centimeters (6.7 inches) of rain in Cannes and some other areas, according to the Interior Ministry. The Cannes region saw the equivalent of two months of rainfall in less than two hours, local radio France Bleu-Azur reported. (Read more from “‘Apocalyptic’ Flash Floods and Massive Mudslides – Just Some of the Horrific Weather Changes Being Endured Internationally” HERE)
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Guatemala Mudslide Death Toll Rises to 86
By VOA News. Hope is all but gone Sunday that any survivors will be found from the massive landslide on the outskirts of Guatemala’s capital.
The death toll has risen to 86 and is expected to continue to rise as emergency crews dig through tons of earth for an estimated 350 missing people.
Distraught relatives of the victims shoveled alongside diggers through the mounds of earth that destroyed homes in Santa Catarina Pinula on the southeastern flank of Guatemala City after Thursday night’s collapse of a hillside.
Every batch of earth turned up by the diggers held more personal belongings, from mattresses and books to toys and Christmas decorations.
Clutching photos of loved ones, family members stood in line outside a makeshift morgue near the excavation site, some of them crying, to see if they recognized any corpses. (Read more from this story HERE)
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South Carolina Flooding: 5 Dead, Curfews Ordered, Hundreds Rescued, Several Interstates Closed
By The Weather Channel. Curfews have been ordered, many are without drinking water, several interstates are closed and five people are dead in some of the worst flooding South Carolina has ever seen.
Emergency managers sent out a statewide alert telling people to remain indoors.
“Stay home. Stay off the roadways,” Thom Berry, South Carolina Emergency Management spokesperson, told The Weather Channel on Sunday. “Don’t get on the roadways because you very likely can become part of the problem.”
Officials are worried life-threatening impacts will only worsen as the 1-in-1,000-year rain event continues. Authorities said hundreds of people were in need of rescue Sunday as the floodwaters kept rising all over the Palmetto State. Columbia, the state capital, was the hardest hit. (Read more from this story HERE)
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